Check-off ordered from ballot applications

DETROIT (AP) — A citizenship check-off box on Michigan ballot applications that incensed some voters and spurred a lawsuit from a coalition of advocacy groups was put on hold Friday by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman granted a preliminary injunction that forces Secretary of State Ruth Johnson to have the boxes removed for the November general election. Johnson, who pushed for the box, had argued that the citizenship question could prevent unqualified person from voting and committing a crime.

Borman called the box confusing and a burden on the right to vote. The judge, who announced his decision during a hearing in Detroit, is expected to release a written decision Tuesday.

Some voters were denied ballots during Michigan’s August primary elections after refusing to check off the box confirming they were U.S. citizens. Around noon that day, Johnson’s office sent a memo telling county clerks to let elections workers know that voters didn’t have to confirm their citizenship before getting ballots.

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Johnson, a Republican, said she disagreed with Friday’s ruling. In a statement, she said her staff has found cases of noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls, though it didn’t offer specifics.

“We’re disappointed because the federal government has refused to help us clean up the Qualified Voter File and now a federal judge has ordered us to not ask people if they’re U.S. citizens at the polls,” Johnson said. “But our fight for election integrity and for accurate voter rolls will continue. We must continue to remove unqualified voters — those who have died, people who have moved out of state and, yes, noncitizens.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan was among several groups that sued to have the check-off box removed from ballot applications.

Borman’s decision is a “clear victory for Michigan voters and the cause of voting rights across the country,” said Dan Korobkin, ACLU staff attorney.

“There is no question that, without the court’s intervention, the chaos that persisted during the August primary election will be replayed on a greater scale during the November general election,” Korobkin said in a statement. “We are encouraged by the decision and hope to work with the secretary of state on initiatives that will truly ensure that voting is convenient and open to every eligible voter in our state.”